Improving the Physical and Fiscal Health of Healthcare Organizations

60,000 Nurses Exit the Workforce Every Year

The 2017 AMN Healthcare survey of 3,347 nurses shows that 27% of the nurses who say they are planning to retire intend to do so in less than a year. In 2015, only 16% of nurses reported they planned to retire in less than a year.

Approximately 60,000 baby boomer RNs have exited the workforce each year since 2012. The nurse shortage will only get worse. The 2017 survey found that 73% of baby boomer nurses who are planning to retire say they will do so in three years or less. By 2020, the number of baby boomer RNs will be about half their peak of 1.26 million in 2008.

The research closely follows recent projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which found that job openings for nurses will grow 15% between 2016 and 2026, much faster than the average for all occupations.

“The retirement wave of baby boomer nurses will create a particular drain on clinical expertise and institutional knowledge, which are critical to quality patient care and organizational success for healthcare providers,” Marcia Faller, Ph.D., RN, chief clinical officer of AMN Healthcare, said in the announcement. “Our research, coming closely behind the BLS projecting an astonishing number of job openings for nurses, should be a wake-up call, because the healthcare industry will need solutions to cope with this impending crisis.”